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The Royal Society is a Fellowship of many of the world's most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. Sitting at the helm of the Royal Society is…
What 190 conversations with the world's leading thinkers reveal about the nature of reality
Biologist Michael Levin argues cognition came before life. He explains bioelectric ‘cognitive glue’, xenobots and anthrobots, why even six lines of code show unprogrammed goals, why AI may hide a mind behind…
In this interview I speak to Eric Ries — creator of the Lean Startup method and founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange — he argues that corporate corruption is structural, not moral.…
From the archive
The biggest of all perhaps is how life began. We still don't know how life started from a soup of chemicals – how molecules assembled, replicated, and managed to survive and evolve into incredibly complex life forms. We also don't know how likely this was, and if we ever able to answer that, it will give us a better idea of whether we're alone in the universe.
— Venki RamakrishnanNobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for Ribosome Structure Studies
Much of the pushback against science is related to a distrust of the establishment and of multinational corporations and their profit motive. It's easy to spread fear; as humans we're very tuned and sensitive to it. This is what we've seen with the anti-vaccine movement.
— Venki RamakrishnanNobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for Ribosome Structure Studies
Compare the 1600s to the present day, and what we do now would seem like magic to people from that era. That just shows you how dramatic the transformation of society has been as a result of science and technological advances.
— Venki RamakrishnanNobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for Ribosome Structure Studies
It is essential that the public knows how deeply science and technology affect their lives. A lot of the decisions that will impact our future are underpinned by science, and whilst sometimes these decisions are made by governments – who are elected and hopefully transparent – many are made by corporations who are not generally accountable to the public.
— Venki RamakrishnanNobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for Ribosome Structure Studies
There was no single spark that got me into science. My parents were both scientists, so I was exposed to that world from an early age. I remember noticing that science was international – in our house in India, we would have visitors from many different countries and I found that fascinating.
— Venki RamakrishnanNobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for Ribosome Structure Studies
When assessing any new technology, getting experts to explain and understand the benefits and risks is only one aspect of the debate. We also need to involve the public and other stakeholders in a proper transparent discussion on how the technology will be adopted.
— Venki RamakrishnanNobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for Ribosome Structure Studies
Much of the pushback against science is related to a distrust of the establishment and of multinational corporations and their profit motive. It's easy to spread fear; as humans we're very tuned and sensitive to it.
— Venki RamakrishnanNobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for Ribosome Structure Studies
My impression however is that the rate of change in society is accelerating as a result of rapid developments in science and technology. Science today is a huge, industrial scale activity and has a far greater impact on society than it did a few hundred years ago.
— Venki RamakrishnanNobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for Ribosome Structure Studies
On the whole, science is seen as one of the most trusted professions- and we need to retain that trust. It is essential that the public knows how deeply science and technology affect their lives.
— Venki RamakrishnanNobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for Ribosome Structure Studies
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